Equestrians, mountain bikers and hikers get along very well on the hard-packed trail through the Goodan Ranch Open Space Preserve in Poway.

Once a working farm where cattle, dairy cows and horses coexisted with a few hardy people, the 325-acre ranch preserve sits next to the 2,270 acres of Sycamore Canyon Open Space, where both pristine places offer some 10 miles of trails.

I meandered down the main trail of Goodan Ranch, a wide and easy path that was formerly a dirt ranch road. It can be a loop trail of a bit more than 3.3 miles when joined with the nearby, narrower West Boundary Trail, but I stayed on the main trail both ways (for about three miles round-trip) to avoid rattlesnakes, which are common here this time of year. The wide, clear path makes visibility much better when on the lookout for those creatures.

When you reach the southern end of the main trail, you arrive at the Goodan Ranch Center, a modern building with exhibits and ranger staff offices.

It was built after the 2003 Cedar fire destroyed 95 percent of Goodan Ranch and Sycamore Canyon lands. The fire also claimed the historic stone house that was built in 1937-38 by May and Roger Goodan, the ruins of which sit next to the modern building.

Goodan owned the Los Angeles Furniture Co., and he and his family bought this land to be a country retreat, according to one of the exhibits in the ranch center building. May was the stepdaughter of Harrison Gray Otis, the first publisher of the Los Angeles Times, and the daughter of Harry Chandler, who eventually took over the Times.

The Goodans would come on weekends and holidays, and operated the ranch as a working farm with cattle, dairy cows and pigs.

Their ranch hand, Ernest Allbee, was hired in 1941 and lived on the ranch for more than 50 years. Even after the Goodans sold the property in 1985, Allbee was secured with lifetime residency; Allbee died in 1998 at age 101.

Classic San Diego habitats of coastal sage scrub, chaparral and one fine oak woodland are found here, but Goodan Ranch also has native and nonnative grassland, where those cattle used to roam. These days, those grasslands reveal distinctive wildlife paths — narrow trails tamped down through the grass made by the mule deer, coyotes and other wild animals. Exhibits in the ranch center reveal the breadth of wildlife found here.

Goodan Ranch is part of the Multiple Species Conservation Program, a comprehensive, long-term program to preserve San Diego’s native habitats and wildlife. A regional program is a partnership of local, state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the county, and the cities of Poway and San Diego, as well as other entities.

The ranch center hosts several programs throughout the year. An introduction to geocaching is scheduled from 9 to 11 a.m. Sept. 18, for example. Also coming up later this year are programs on edible plants, from 9 to 11 a.m. Oct. 23; and a star hike from 5 to 7 p.m. Nov. 6.